Free Churches Engagement with the Churches Rural Group

With approximately one person in six in the UK living in rural areas with populations no larger than 5,000, and many thousands of small rural churches, it is vital that rural ministry and mission are taken seriously. A few rural networks exist with different aims. One of these is the Churches Rural Group (CRG), a Coordinating group of CTE, with participation drawn more widely. Some of the FCG’s Group members are represented on CRG, and the FCG directors have ensured that the smaller denominations in the FCG are also represented collectively.

We may have lost many rural Free Churches during the latter half of the twentieth century, but we still have a significant presence, which brings a challenge to mission.

CRG holds a bi-annual one-day conference, called Germinate and the Group has arranged a residential ‘Listening Event’ in the autumn of 2017 to prepare for the 2018 conference. This will give rural churches an opportunity to contribute to setting objectives that address things of interest to them and planning the conference programme. Please do look out for that and think about how you may wish to get involved.

Below is a link to the minutes of the CRG’s last meeting. The minutes provide information on CRG’s current work programme, including some exciting activities which are on the horizon. We will provide regular features on this website about the work of CRG so please do look out for that in the future.